Indianapolis – Nolan Winter and John Tonje scored 18 points to lead No. 18 Wisconsin to a 70-63 victory over Northwestern in the second round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday.
The Badgers (24-8), sown fifth, will face UCLA No. 4 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Winter reached 4 of 5 shots and 9 of 10 free throws.
Nick Martinelli led the Wildcats sown No. 13 (17-16) with 22 points. Jordan Clayton added 10 points for Northwestern.
Leading for eight points, Max Klesmit of Wisconsin hit a triple to push the advantage to 53-42. Kamari McGee followed that with a triple to push the advantage to 56-42 with 8:58 remaining. Two more Tonje triples gave the Badgers an advantage of 62-46.
The Badgers fired 42% from the field while keeping the Wildcats at 37%.
The free throws were almost even with the Wildcats winning 18 of 22, while the Badgers were 18 of 23 from the line.
Wisconsin had an advantage of 37-30 in the part-time. Both teams fired 39% in the first half. The difference was that the Badgers made 12 of 15 free throws compared to 6 of 7 for the Wildcats.
Northwestern: Behind up to 18 points in the second half, the Wildcats continued to fight in the section to reduce the final deficit. The Wildcats closed the game with a 12-2 race.
Wisconsin: The Badgers shot better in the second half and committed only 10 ball losses in general. Wisconsin had an advantage of 17-5 in points outside the ball losses.
Leading 50-42, triple Klesmit began an execution of 14-4 that increased the advantage to 64-46.
After passing 3 of 12 from the range of 3 points in the first half, Wisconsin sank 5 of 13 triples in the second half, including four in a row in a key stretch.
Wisconsin will play against the number 4 of UCLA in the quarterfinals of Friday Big Ten. Northwestern will expect a possible offer of the NIT or university basketball crown.
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